Delinquents Interchanged Criminals Ensemble
by ArtGuru
Summary: Each day it seems the same old, same old for Kokichi Ouma, a simple delinquent living in the benefit of a world where the Biggest Most Awful Most Tragic Event In Human History has finally ended and order remains. However, after gaining some new friends, Kokichi forms a secret organization he names "D.I.C.E" or Delinquents Interchanges Criminals Ensemble.


It was yet another boring day in a boring session of detention. Kokichi sat in the same place he always did, with his feet on top of the desk as usual. The teacher had stopped protesting a long time ago, for they knew it was pointless. The clock's ticking was the only sound that was heard as he sat quietly with the other students.

Soon a second sound filled the room that surprised Kokichi, the sound of snoring. He noticed the teacher had his head on the desk and was fast asleep, and grinned. He stood up, seeing his chance for escape when someone called his name from behind. He turned around and locked eyes with a boy with bright green eyes and blonde hair that made him seem taller than he was.

"They're just gonna catch ya anyways. Just sit down, it's not gonna work," he said, seeming annoyed with Kokichi.

"Shut it, Yusei. You can be a pussy all you want, but I'm goin' home. You're just mad cause you _can't_ go home," Kokichi snapped, not responding well with Yusei's attitude.

Yusei scoffed and looked away, and Kokichi opened up window before climbing out to freedom. He quickly shut it just before he took off towards the usual path he took home. Eventually he reached his house and stared at the front door hesitantly. He could hear the sound of yelling from coming inside and sighed. He went around to the backyard, and hopped over the fence to get inside.

Using the usual route of the trellis that lead up to the balcony connected to his bedroom, he climbed up to his room and flopped onto his bed with a sigh. He sat up after a few minutes and got up, walking over to his computer desk and sitting down as he put a pair of headphones over his ears.

He then began scrolling through various tabs and pages online until he checked a chat room he had been in earlier discussing Shining Hopes Academy and the chosen Ultimate students for that year. Now that the tragedy had passed, Hope's Peak had been re-named and re-opened and scouting had continued under the watch of the Future Foundation.

Kokichi sighed, he had always dreamed of being an Ultimate himself, that he could not lie about. But as he got older, he knew it was unlikely he would even be in the Reserve Course program, let alone the Ultimate department. He was just a regular old, boring, talentless student. The only thing he seemed good at was lying and getting into trouble.

"What a useless talent…" Kokichi muttered.

He jumped in surprise when he heard a knock on his door, and took off his headphones as he turned his chair to face it. It slowly opened, and Kokichi's father poked his head in, seeming disappointed yet not very surprised at the same time.

"You're home early," he spoke in a terse tone.

"I dunno what you're talking about. I'm actually home _late_ , if you think about it. You ought to know, you're an _expert_ at coming home late."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing at all! Just that I've noticed lately that you come home smelling a lot more feminine than you _usually_ do," Kokichi muttered, his tone low as he glared back at his father.

"I don't appreciate you slandering me like that, boy. And you shouldn't talk like that with how troublesome you are."

"Awww, but being troublesome and slanderous is all I'm good for!" Kokichi snickered.

"At least you can be honest about _that_. I'm going out for the night, and when I get back your homework had _better_ be done, Kokichi."

"Oh sure, and while I'm at it, I'll even clean the house!"

Kokichi's father rolled his eyes, closing the door again as he left. He was alone again, and his usual sneer faded back into a frown with the same dead, blank stare he always bore when he was left on his own. He glanced at a hat that was sitting on his desk, he had it since he was a child, a prize he won at town fair. He had always liked it, it made him look more fetching.

He smiled and put it on his head, it fit much better than it had when he first got it. His grin widened as the same thought he always had when wearing it crossed his mind.

"Man, if only I had a cool cape that matched this thing. Then I'd look _totally_ badass!" he said aloud to himself.

He got up, and grabbed a blanket off his bed, slinging it over his shoulders. He grabbed a bottle of grape soda that was sitting on his desk as well, and stood on top of his desk chair. He turned his nose up in a mocking impression of a high-class official.

"Yes yes, I hereby decree that I shall nuke _this_ country! For it shall not give up it's Panta supply!" Kokichi laughed maniacally.

However, his brief game of pretend was cut short by his mother swinging the door open with a nasty glare on her face. Kokichi let out a surprised cry and fell off the chair and onto the floor, his grape soda spilling out onto the floor and the blanket underneath him.

"Kokichi Ouma, you clean up this mess right now and get your work done! You're in high school, quit acting like you're five years old!" his mother shouted, just before slamming the door shut once more.

Kokichi sat up and rubbed his head, groaning from the pain.

"Harsh…" he whined.

He picked up his grape soda and placed it on the desk once more, before picking up the blanket and tossing it into his laundry basket. He ignored the stain on the floor and sat at his desk again, hesitantly pulling out his homework and beginning to work on it.

"Gonta no like it, he always alone and always in trouble. Is Maki _sure_ that Gonta should not at least introduce himself?" The voice of a tall, burly student said with uncertainty.

"Don't get involved with trash like that, Gonta. He's just causing problems because that's all he's good for," said another voice, calm but terse.

"Maki, I don't think you should be so harsh. He is a human, after all," another chimed in, sounding naturally unnatural, like an alien trying to blend in.

"Some humans are irredeemable, Keebo. He's not like us. He's just a delinquent, nothing more."

"Still...Gonta feel sorry for him."

"Don't worry about that guy, Gonta. If he wanted help he'd ask for it. But he pushes everyone _away_ instead. Just forget about him, ok? He's not worth the trouble," A strong, more confident voice pitched in now.

"Guys, leave him be. If Gonta wants to try being his friend, then who are we to stop him? Maybe Kokichi is bad news...but it's not our choice."

"No, Maki and Kaito are right, Keebo. Kokichi _not_ good."

"Oh _shit_...I think he heard us…!"

"Who cares? He knows it's true. No matter how big of a liar you are, you still know the truth."

"Maki, do not be so harsh. Even if you dislike him you should not be so _rude_."

"...Whatever...let's just get to class already."

And like that, all the voices stopped and were swallowed by the sound of fading footsteps.

Kokichi tried to ignore the constant whispers as best he could, but it was nearly impossible now. The rumors had spread like wildfire. It was inescapable at this point. But Kokichi put on a good facade, acting like none of it mattered at all. Deep down though, he always had the thought that they didn't know a damn thing about him.

He was planning to skip out on school today altogether, but he wanted to catch up with the only person he knew he _could_ rely on. He headed straight for the music room, which was empty for half the day and his usual go-to class skipping spot. As soon as he opened up he saw his friend was already waiting there for him.

"Oh, Satoshi, you're already here," Kokichi said, seeming surprised.

Satoshi looked up, his large red afro hair swaying a bit as his head moved. He grinned, seeming excited that his friend had appeared.

"Kokichi, bro! There you are, I was lookin' all over for ya," He said, walking up to Kokichi.

"Looking all over for me? O-Oh...you mean...since yesterday. Sorry man, I saw an opportunity for escape and I took it. You must've been dozing off, huh?"

"Yeah, a bit. I heard Yusei gave ya shit for it. Do you want me to beat him up for ya?"

"Nah, he's not worth the pummeling. Besides, I came here to talk to you about something else."

Satoshi raised a brow in curiosity, "Oh yeah? What would that be?"

"It's about Shining Hopes Academy. I heard a few people here were being scouted for the program. Is that true?"

"I dunno about all _dat_ , but I did hear about dis rumor surroundin' Jabberwock Island. You ever heard of the Remnants Of Despair?"

"That's just some silly kid's story parents have been telling their kids to keep them in line. We're _past_ all that war nonsense. Future Foundation killed all the Remnants Of Despair already. Whatever that psychotic bitch left behind is dead now."

Satoshi tapped his chin in contemplation, and Kokichi rolled his eyes. He knew he could trust Satoshi to be honest with him, and know everything there is to know about a lot of rumors. But there was no way he could believe such an outlandish thing. This wasn't the dark ages, even _he_ knew all this government conspiracy jargon was just nonsense.

"I dunno about dat Kokichi...I got this weird feelin' in my gut that it might all be true."

"That's just your stomach, Satoshi. You're probably just hungry like you _always_ are."

"Too true, my friend!" Satoshi said, laughing.

Kokichi smiled, for once it was a genuine one that he usually only let Satoshi see. As much as his life sucked, Satoshi had a way of making Kokichi forget all his worries and just enjoy living. He truly didn't know how he'd get through a single day of his life without Satoshi around. The bell rang, but neither of them moved to leave the room.

They would most certainly get caught and thrown in detention again, but they didn't care. They were already used to this way of doing things by now. They spent as much of the day as they could in that room, so distracted with their fun they had forgotten to keep track of the time. They were caught as usual, and sentenced to detention, as usual.

It was the same-old, same-old. Almost nothing about today was much different from yesterday, save for the conversations Kokichi shared with Satoshi. That, and it seemed his luck from yesterday did not follow him to today. The teacher in detention was wide awake for the duration, and Kokichi was hopelessly bored throughout the whole thing.

At least, until Yusei began to prod him for attention again that is. Kokichi tried to ignore him, not because he cared about what the teacher had to say, but more because he simply didn't feel like talking to Yusei. Eventually Yusei began shooting paper wads through a straw at him, and he had no choice but to acknowledge him so he would stop.

" _What…?!_ " Kokichi snapped, whispering as so not to invoke the teacher's wrath.

"I wanted to know if you've been scouted by Shining Hopes Academy," Yusei whispered back.

"Very funny, Yusei. Now leave me alone," Kokichi demanded, turned his gaze away from Yusei.

Yusei rolled his eyes and scratched the back of his head, "I wasn't joking around. I'm really curious."

"What makes you think they would scout out a delinquent like me?"

"They've scouted out a yakuza and a fortune teller before. Why not?"

Kokichi's eyes lit up as his eyebrows raised. He lifted up his head but still didn't meet Yusei's eyes. He had never truly thought about it like that before. Thinking back on the chat room he always used, most people talked about how The Ultimate Clairvoyant was a total deadbeat loser that looked like a hobo.

 _And being an Ultimate Yakuza...that sort of requires you to be a delinquent, doesn't it?_ Kokichi thought, feeling strangely hopeful for once in his life. Finally he sighed and turned his head back to look at Yusei once more, "No, Yusei. They haven't. But I heard they scouted out some others that go here."

"Yeah, that's what I heard too. Some people say our school has the most potential Ultimates this year in fact. I was just wonderin' cause I don't got a clue what you do for a living."

"That would be lying and being a general nuisance, or so the adults call it. What about _you_? You got somethin' you wanna be when you grow up, little boy?" Kokichi teased, though still half serious.

"Not really, no. I don't really see myself makin' it through school at this rate. I might drop out."

"Drop out? That's a social class suicide…!"

"Was...that supposed to be a joke?" Yusei asked, blinking in confusion.

"Kinda. I'm not a comedian. But still, that's probably a horrible idea."

" _What's_ a horrible idea?" A third voice chimed in suddenly.

At first the boys were startled, worried that the teacher was about to give them a stern lecture. But it was just Satoshi, newly awoken from his nap by their constant whispering. Kokichi and Yusei both let out a sigh of relief, and Kokichi smiled at Satoshi warmly, "We were just talking about Shining Hopes Academy is all. Yusei says he's probably not gonna make it there cause he's gonna drop out soon."

"Wha? Drop out? You can't do dat…! I mean yeah school is borin', but why the hell you think me and Kokichi even bother comin'?" Satoshi said, seeming surprised.

"I honestly have no clue, man. Isn't being a delinquent more shameful than being a failure?" Yusei asked, not a glint of sarcasm or satirical intent behind his words.

 _I suppose that's true…_ Kokichi thought, at first. But then he shook his head and gave Yusei a determined look, "No, at least we're still trying to do _something_. You can just give up. If you've got the energy to fight the system, then just fight it."

Yusei seemed caught off-guard, as did Satoshi. Kokichi was never the inspirational type, even though he was rebellious. Kokichi stood up, seemed to forget where he was as he raised his voice, "If you wanted to be a quitter, you'd have quit by now! But look at where you are now. Satoshi and I are here too, but we're not ashamed of it at all. We're _proud_ that we accomplished this much."

Yusei blinked, and Satoshi smirked, seeming proud of his friend's sudden burst of motivation.

Kokichi continued, "We're here cause we decided we wanted to have fun and actually _do_ something worth a damn today! So why are _you_ here if you're really a quitter?"

Yusei thought for a moment before giving his answer, his expression becoming more determined now, "I wanted to test myself, so I've been going at it with the same guy every day so I can get stronger! I wanna prove to him that I'm _not_ weak! So I wanna beat him on my own!"

Yusei stood up, and Kokichi grinned with satisfaction at his answer. Satoshi stood up as well, giving a shout of approval as Kokichi laughed almost sinisterly. This was what he yearned for everyday, the very thing that he had constantly been punished for.

Companionship.

"Yes! We're not just delinquents, we're fighters! We're smart! But we're not quitters! If you have the strength, rebel against the unjust system we have been forced to abide by with all your might!" Kokichi let out a loud laugh, and the other two joined him.

However, the moment was short lived when they noticed the teacher standing right behind them with a stern glare on his face. Kokichi chuckled nervously, offering a sheepish grin that pleaded for mercy, "Um...h-hey teach...wanna join our group motivation session?"

"...All three of you, sit down. I'm calling your parents and having you suspended for the rest of the week."

"What?! We were just talking!" Yusei protested.

The teacher shook his head, "Screaming propaganda more like it. Now sit _down_. And be quiet. I have to make a few phone calls…"

The boys sat back down in defeat, not looking at each other or talking each other for the rest of detention. Out of all of them, Kokichi was dreading the call to his father the most.

There was no conversation during the car-ride home. Just silence. Bitter, misunderstood, and mutual silence. Neither of them felt like wasting their energy arguing with one another. There was no point. This was just par for the course by now. Kokichi just glared out his window, his eyes narrowing as they passed by a sign advertising Shining Hopes Academy on the way home.

Once the car stopped, Kokichi got out and didn't even hear his father call his name. He went inside, and was about to go up the stairs when he felt someone grab his arm. He turned away, and jerked his hand out of his father's grasp.

"Don't _touch_ me!" Kokichi snapped.

"I've had enough of this rebellious little attitude of yours, Kokichi. Is that what you think you're doing? By being a nuisance instead of just behaving yourself that you're accomplish some great feat?"

"Oh and look who's talking. Must be a pretty successful life you built for yourself, huh? A broken marriage, tons of side girls at your beck and call, a son who shames your very name with his 'outbursts of rebellion'," Kokichi smiled maliciously.

His father just glared at him, "How _dare_ you talk about your mother and I like that?!"

"I am _sick_ and _tired_ of this game of charades and bullshit, dad! I've had enough! Stop lying to my face all the time and just admit it already! We all know the truth!" Kokichi's smile had dissipated quickly, and his expression was nothing but pure anger and hate now.

"That is _enough_! Go to your room this instant! You just talked yourself out of dinner, young man!"

"What the fuck ever! I'd rather starve to death than have to look at your _disgusting_ face anyways!"

Kokichi ran up the staircase and slammed the door to his room shut as he entered it. He let out a scream of agony and frustration and kicked over his desk chair. He began to cry as he fell onto his bed, unable to process everything due to it happening far too fast. It was all too much in too little time, his day had totally spiraled into chaos.

Eventually he sat up after he had cried as much as he could manage. He sniffled, wiping his remaining tears away. He got up, and after picking up his desk chair, sat down at his computer. He once again scrolled through the chat room, though not finding much of an answer to the rumors he had heard. Just mere speculation as to who it could've been.

He sighed and opened up a new tab playing a live news feed. It was the usual slew of stories one would see everyday. He muted it, instead playing his music over the news reports that played on his screen. He was too exhausted by the day's events to really pay much attention to anything at the moment.

The brief thought that his father would be heading out soon crossed his mind. He put his headphones on, resting his head on his arms as he stared blankly at his computer screen displaying a news report about rumors surrounding the Remnants Of Despair still living on an island somewhere.

He wasn't completely paying attention to it, though. And as he listened to his music he slowly drifted off to sleep, dreaming of Shining Hopes Academy and a time before his slow descent into the life of a delinquent.

Kokichi lifted his head up, his music was still playing, but he took off his headphones and rubbed his eyes. He looked at the clock on his computer screen. It was past midnight, but he knew his father wasn't home yet. He stretched out his arms before getting up and stretching his arms some more. However, a grunting noise temporarily distracted him and he looked up curiously.

He stared at the door as he heard the grunting sounds coming closer to his door, before passing it and moving farther away again. He walked up to his door and opened it a bit, just to see what all the commotion was. That's when he saw his mother, struggling to drag a luggage bag along the floor with her to the staircase. He opened the door all the way and stepped out into the hall, not quite understanding what she was doing.

"Mom? What're you doing? It's almost one in the morning," he asked, confused when she squeaked in surprise.

"K-Kokichi! You scared me half to death! What're you doing up?"

"I fell asleep. What're _you_ doing up? And why do you have a luggage bag?"

She was silent, before sighing as she answered his question, "You're a foolish boy, Kokichi, but you're not an idiot."

Kokichi thought about it for a moment, and the pieces started fitting into place. It was late, his father was definitely not going to be home for another hour or so now, and she assumed that Kokichi was fast asleep. And her luggage bag tied it perfectly together. She was leaving...and she wasn't intending on coming back.

"You're...going to leave…? Wh-What about me?"

"What _about_ you, Kokichi?"

"I'm your son! D...Don't you care about me?!" Kokichi snapped, choking back tears.

"You're too much of a problem, Kokichi! You skip school, you sleep in class, and you sneak out of detention _constantly_! I can't take care of a child so troublesome. And besides, you're going to be an adult in a few years anyways. You can just leave then if you hate it here so much."

"Mom, please! I swear I'll change! I won't even take that long packing up my stuff, dad won't be back for hours! I-I was only acting that way cause he wasn't paying attention to me!"

"There's no more room for excuses, Kokichi! I'm leaving! And by the time your father gets back here neither of you will be able to find me!"

"Mom, please! I-"

A loud slap resounded through the hallway as his mother gave him a nasty glare. Kokichi put a hand on the newly red handprint on his cheek, and stared at her in disbelief. She didn't say another word, and went down the staircase with her bag. This time, Kokichi didn't stop her, nor did he bid her goodbye once she made her way out the front door.

He stood still for the longest time, unable to move. Internally, he was confused with himself. It should've come as no surprise that even his mother wouldn't tolerate him, but why did it still hurt him so much? His expression turned from shocked, to completely blank again as he abandoned all his bottled emotions in favor of keeping his composure.

Even if there was no one around, he wouldn't break. He returned to his room, and laid down on his bed. He didn't sleep for the remainder of the night, and by morning, his father hadn't return home at all. It was the first of many mornings Kokichi was going to spend all alone in his empty, sad, and broken house.


End file.
